Freedom Crossing and Palm Valley, both K-8 acadmies, open their doors today

Colleen Jones

Thursday

Aug 9, 2018 at 8:55 PMAug 11, 2018 at 6:55 AM

The two new K-8 schools are the latest to join the St. Johns County School District

With the St. Johns County School District growing by leaps and bounds over the last decade, it is rare the year that doesn't see at least one new school opening.

For the kickoff of the 2018-19 school year today, there are two new schools coming online: Freedom Crossing Academy, in Aberdeen, and Palm Valley Academy, in Nocatee.

Each of the schools is in the northern part of the county and is built to house students in grades K-8 as has been the trend across the district in recent years. This year, the schools will accommodate grades K-6. For 2019-20, they will phase in grade 7, and the year after that, grade 8.

Jessica Richardson, principal of Palm Valley Academy, said she and fellow staff members would be ready to welcome students to their new home on Day 1.

"I keep saying this [building] is like one really big new house," Richardson said.

And she hoped students would begin to bond like one big family over the coming days.

"It's really exciting because you get to create a whole new culture from the ground up," Richardson added.

Would things be perfect the first day?

"No," Richardson said with a laugh, "but you can at least get some of the scuff marks out of the way."

Over at Palm Valley Academy, principal Allen Anderson said in recent days his focus had shifted from overseeing construction of the campus to building relationships with teachers and students.

The school has held several walk-throughs over the last week to give parents and students a chance to see and get used to the layout of the building.

"A lot of older siblings said, 'Why didn't they have this back when I was that age?' I think some of them were a little jealous," Allen said.

The district has also begun work on the conversion of Mill Creek Elementary into a K-8 academy. It has already begun construction on the addition and will work on the project in stages. For this year, just sixth-graders have been added to the school, with one more grade being phased in each year until 2020-21 when the campus will be complete.

Safety

In other changes, school hardening has become a focus across the state following last March's mass shooting at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland. In St. Johns County, all public schools will have an armed youth resource deputy or armed security guard posted at each campus this school year. Security upgrades have also been made to the physical structure of some sites to ensure increased safety.

The district is also adding more on-site mental health counselors at schools and training faculty and staff to look for "red flags" that indicate students could be in crisis.

Aside from the passage of the Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School Public Safety Act, state lawmakers approved other legislative changes affecting education that go into effect for the 2018-19 school year. The district is making amendments to its school policies to accommodate those changes.

Among them:

• A mandate that schools must recite the pledge of allegiance and display the national motto of "In God We Trust" somewhere in the school building.

• A zero tolerance policy for crimes and victimization, including bullying, in schools. The district is now required to report any and all incidents to local law enforcement. It does have some latitude in what kinds of punitive actions will be taken against an offending student, outside of those decisions made by law enforcement.

• Adjunct athletic coaches (those hired from outside the school district) must go through the same background screening as other school employees and must report any crimes they are convicted of to the district.

• Threat assessment teams at each school will follow state protocol in how to handle a student considered in danger of harming himself/herself or others, but school officials are also given the freedom to make their own decisions in how to respond to what are considered "imminent threats."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Advertising

Stay Connected

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The St. Augustine Record ~ One News Place, St. Augustine, FL 32086 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service